


the eleventh hour and the fifty-ninth minute

by Riverdaughter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hurt/very little comfort, Jedi Code Problems, More character study than story I guess, Slavery, Ten Years of Sidious slowly ruining Anakin, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Who are also people, all the problems with the chosen one thing, and the Jedi council helping by accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23783008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riverdaughter/pseuds/Riverdaughter
Summary: In a universe where Anakin is slightly less culpable for all the stuff that Palpatine makes him do, Luke and Leia save their father a little sooner and with less injury to all parties.Except Sheev.(also Palpatine totally considers Vader to be his personal weapon of mass destruction)
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 11
Kudos: 165





	the eleventh hour and the fifty-ninth minute

**Author's Note:**

> And from the blade rang a cold voice in answer: 'Yea, I will drink thy blood gladly, that so I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly.'  
> \- The Lay of the Children of Hurin

Anakin’s fall is more than a decade in the making. A subtle hint here and a touch of Sith compulsion there. It is delicate work, the web that Sidious weaves around his chosen prey. The war, of course, is helpful in more ways than one. It allows him to take control of the Republic and train the Jedi to trust in the men who will be their downfall.

But it has other uses too. It hones the sharp edges of his greatest weapon, the perfect grindstone for the saber that cut down Sidious’ enemies.

It is almost fatal to his plans.

Weapons by their nature are meant to be cold and commanded. Sidious’ has flaws, there are stresses in the blade, a weapon that commands and loves is one that is dangerous to him that dares wield it.

It must be re-forged, and to Sidious’ everlasting delight the Jedi are quite willing to help in their ignorance. Trample a blade underfoot often enough and even durasteel will shatter. And it works, it might be the years as a slave, or the weight of cryptic prophecy, the vague unhelpful advice or simply the attempt to force a being meant to love with a capacity that they cannot comprehend into a life without it. In their effort to break the boy of his emotions, they break him instead.

In the end, it does not matter, all Sidious’ cares for is the great fracture that runs through the soul of the desperate young man before him. It takes a few final blows and the glittering fragments are ready for him to remake in his own image.

Re-forged in blood and fire and durasteel as all the best weapons are until it is nothing but an extension of the Emperor’s will.

* * *

Except Sidious missed a few shards of broken humanity in his haste to claim his weapon.

It takes over a decade to break his weapon properly, and but a little while to remake it. Twenty years to steep it in the blood of broken stars and burnt-out suns.

It takes Anakin Skywalker a day to find himself again.

A cry for help from a princess of dark curls and silver steel. An unasked and unearned moment of trust from her brother.

The love of a father for his children and the galaxy shifts and changes around them. They are the children of slaves and senators and generals, heirs to a queen and the knight that loved her. But what has been bent and broken is not entirely beyond repair and this time he is remade in his own likeness.

It is not the bright silver blade of the heroic general, nor the dark bloodthirsty blacksword. He is burnt iron and hope and scars.

Sidious finds that his weapon will not answer to his call. His sharp-edged dealer of death has found new hands to wield it. Trusted hands.

And so he falls on the piercing, bitter point of the blade that he himself created.


End file.
